“No! No, please don’t stop. I mean, I like it. I mean, it’s just you called me that the first time you touched me.”
I faced her again.
“I mean, when you pulled me back away from Jefferson and Ryan. I guess I was just surprised to hear anyone other than Jefferson use an endearing name for me. That’s all.”
She laid back down on the pillow. Her face was pained, and her eyes filled with something that looked like worry. I wanted to pull her up and hold her in my arms. I hated that no one had ever treated her the way she deserved to be treated. It pissed me the fuck off.
“Ryan never called you ‘sweetheart’ or anything?” I asked, my voice sounding as surprised as I was.
She scoffed. “Ha! No. About the only thing he ever called me was Ell or Ells. That should have
been another sign he was wrong for me.”
The last sentence she mumbled, but I still heard it.
“I can tell you this, Ellie, if you were my girlfriend, I would let you know every day how much you meant to me, through words—and much more.”
Her perfect mouth dropped slightly open, and her tongue darted out across her lips. My dick was hard as a damn rock.
Ellie chewed on her damn lip for a few seconds before saying, “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you, Gunner, so much. I’m sure you’re going to make some girl a very happy woman someday.”
I forced a smile. Couldn’t she see that she was the girl I wanted to make happy? Facing the movie, I lightly stroked her legs again while she drifted off to sleep.
The main menu of the movie was on when I jerked awake. Ellie was tossing and turning. Moaning in her sleep. Then she started calling out my name.
“Gunner! Gunner, don’t go. No! He does; you’re wrong. You’re wrong! Gunner!”
What in the living hell? Ellie sounded scared to death. I jumped up, careful not to knock her off the sofa. I pushed the coffee table a little out of the way, knelt down next to her, and started to stroke her hair.
“Ellie, sweetheart, wake up. Ellie, wake up. Sweetheart, please wake up.”
My heart was pounding in my chest. What in the hell was she dreaming about? My own weird dreams came rushing back to me. Why would she think I would ever leave her?
“Ellie, sweetheart, wake up.”
Her eyes opened, and she looked right at me. She started to cry as she sat up and threw herself into my arms. She was crying hysterically. I was going to kick my ass if I hurt her in a dream. I couldn’t have already fucked this up in a goddamn dream—could I?
“Oh my God. Gunner.” She started to cry again.
“Shh, Ellie, it’s okay. I’m here, sweetheart, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
She pulled back and looked into my eyes. Her blue eyes nearly left me breathless. Even upset and crying, she was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever laid eyes on.
“No one will ever want me, Gunner. Or stay with me ever,” she whispered.
My chest squeezed like someone was gripping it with a vise. What in the hell did her mother do to her to make her think that way?
“That’s not true, Ellie,” I stated, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. I’d have given anything to take away her fears and doubts. To show her how much she was wanted. How much she was desired . . . by me. My gaze drifted down to her soft, tear-soaked lips. I ran my tongue over my own and leaned in to kiss her—but then I heard the front door unlock. Ellie heard it too because she quickly pulled out of my embrace and sat back. She stared at me with a lost and confused look on her face.
“What’s going on? Ellie, are you okay?” Jeff’s gaze looked back and forth between us, and I knew what he was about to say.
“What the fuck did you do to her, Gunner?”
I stood. “I didn’t do a damn thing. We fell asleep watching a movie, and she woke up crying out from a dream. She literally woke up crying.”
There was no way I was going to tell him the part where she was crying out my name. I wasn’t in the mood to get my ass kicked.
“Jefferson!” Ellie cried out. “Gunner has been nothing but a gentleman to me all day and night. I can’t even believe you would think he would do something to make me cry.”